Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-05-27
THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE,

THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE.
The county teachers institute. which
began at the town hall here on Wednes-
day of last week. closed on Friday even
ing. 1t was conducted by State Superin-
tendent of Education Dart. was very
well attended and must have been inter
esting and profitable to the teachers.
Over 100 of them were present. Mr..
Dartt showed himself well up to the
work. and DR.. Mowry of Boston. who
came to assist him, is full of enthusiasm
and sound sense.
Our report, last week, closed with the
session of Thursday forenoon. Thurs
day afternoons exercises began with
singing. DR.. Mowry next made an adj
dress on ''The Study of language" that,
like all of DIR. Mowry's utterances. was
full of meat. \ somewhat extended dis
cuSsion followed, in which President
Brainerd. Hon. John W. Stewart. Princi-
pal Mead, Prof. Wright and Superintend-
ent :. b. NJ. COWles of New Haven took
part. Mr.. \. +. IIa>seltinc of Bristol,
superintendent of schools there. present.
ed AN essay on "Mu-ic a. an E~ducator,'
in which he maintained that the study of
music in public schools wa, useful.
Principal Mead spoke upon the new sy,-
TEN of teaching music lately introduced
in the graded school here: and DR.. Now
ry told how it was taught in the schools
of Providence. Il. l.. with which he was
formerly connected. lie believed that
every teacher in every school could and
should teach music. DR.. Mowry then
spoke upon the topic spelling" and
gave out Il list of ten words with the re-
quest that the teachers write the words
ON slips and hand them in.
Thursday evening DR.. Mowrv dcliv-
cred a lecture ON "A Winters Ride across
the Continent" The lecture was in part
Il continuation of that of the previous
evening. He opened by giving the his
tory of the several acquisitions of terri
tory west of the Mississippi and then he
sketchcd the early history of Oregon.
About $50 ii was claimed both by Great
Britain and the United States and the
population was pretty equally divided
between citizen, of that country and of
the United States. Dir. Whitman. who
was one of several missionaries sent to
Oregon by the American board. saw that
ii was necessary to add TO the American
population of the region in order to Sc
cure it to the United States. and so. in
the deau of winter he and Il companion
crossed the plains and visited Washing
ton to interest the government in the
matter. II in the spring returned to
Oregon with 500 emigrants. DR.. Mowry's
descriptions of DR.. Whitman's exploits
were very graphic and formed the main
subject of the lecture. In conclusion he
spoke of the Oregon of to-day, its re-
sources and prospects. Excellent vocal
music by a quartette composed of DR..
Sheldon and Messrs. Munroe. Coolidge
and Thomas finished the programme of
the evening.
The devotional exercises on Friday
morning were conducted by Rev. DR..
White. Hon. VIM. :. Wright, superin-
tendent of schools in Waltham, read a
paper on the general topic of normal
schools. He thought the number of them
should be increased, and expressed the
opinion that Il good way to do this would
be to establish a training school for
teachers in every county in which there
is no normal school in connection with
some graded school in that county. \
somewhat protracted discussion followed,
in which DIR. Mowry and Prof. wager
participated. The former was an earnest
advocate of normal training: but the lat
ter thought too much stress was laid upon
method in the normal schools and that
graduates of these institutions We're quite
likely to fail when it came to practical
work. DIR. Mowry reported ON the spell
ing exercise of the day before. Ten
words were put out. SiXty-eight per
cent of the answers were correct; forty
seven papers were handed in; 4 missed
on separate" 6 ON ''precede," : each on
valleys" and fiery" o on proceed"
II on ''erysipelas." II IN "supercede," %
on inflammation" 81 on "hemorrhage"
and a lot couldn't spell "trisyllable."
The Master-spirit of the Schoolroom"
was the title of fine essay read by Miss
4. j. Phelps of Orwell. 1t was received
with applause. DIR. Mowry spoke upon
the subject of "Arithmetic.' with partic-
ular reference to the matter of computing
interest. He thought the methods of the
textbooks were too complicated and too
much unlike those employed in the bus
mess world.
At the afternoon session Mr.. ii. ID.
Hoffnagle, principal of Beeman academy,
New Haven. read a tirst-class paper on
''The Importance of Teaching Princi-
pies" which he followed with eXtempore
remarks suggested by what had come up
during the day. The question box was
opened and the queries contained therein
were answered by one and another of
those present. 4 hearty vote of thanks
was rendered DR.. Mowry, at the sugges-
ton of Prof. Wager, and DIR. Mowry re-
sponded briefly.
In the evening Prof. Wager gave a lee
ture entitled "Some Experiences of It
ally" 1t was a pleasing description of
the sights to be seen in the principal
cities of Italy. and was heard with great
interest. The lecture was preceded by a
piano duet by Mrs. Miner and Miss Hat
tie Bond.
The only break in the programme was
on Thursday, when Mrs. Mary III. Hunt